Dark Pasts, Bright Futures
by Defiled Ladel
Summary: He's having that dream again. After nearly a decade together Yang knows the triggers for his nightmares. There is nothing she can do to stop them, she can only wake him and ground him.
1. Chapter 1

He's having that dream again.

After nearly a decade together Yang knows the triggers for his nightmares. He shivers in his sleep and murmurs incoherent sentences when he is having unpleasant dreams, and after all these years there is nothing she can do to stop them, only help him wake up and ground him.

When they first got together she would ask him what the nightmares were about, he would smile and tell her it was nothing before getting out of bed and starting his day. Over the years he opened up to her after her constant requests for him to let her in. He told her about what his 'nightmares' consisted of.

His nightmares were all the same. He couldn't save her. In the beginning he never told her who he couldn't save. But she knew. She knew he would never forget the day when his world was torn from him. He was alone in a sense, and Yang knew that she could never fully understand what he went through that day. Her team was still there. He was the last remnants of a dead team.

-x-

At the age of 22 Yang was happy, content with the way life had turned out for herself. She had made it. Beacon was a time in the past and being a huntress was her future. Her friends and sister by her side and a deadly and dangerous future ahead, things were in her opinion looking up.

The first few months were the hardest. Even though they were a team of 4, most assignments and missions called for teams of 2. So even though the 4 of them were sent only 2 were needed, and at first it seemed like a godsend. One duo went on assignment where the other were free until they came back. It wasn't until the assignments came few and far between that the rifts started to appear, tensions were high and there was no respite in the monotonous waiting game they found themselves in.

That day had been the 14th in a long wait for a mission and Yang was fairing no better than her teammates. When the call came for their whole team to gear up and prepare for their emergency assignment they should have thought about it, but after 2 weeks of waiting being patient and paying attention gave way for sudden excitement and without considering the 'emergency' aspect of the assignment they set out.

Yang spent the trip anxiously waiting to get out of the airship and pummel something. Constant chatter permeated the air of the enclosed space as the rest of the Team RWBY discussed the plan for the umpteenth time on the way over. She was just itching to get fighting again and couldn't wait to tell the soldiers at the base what a badass she was this day.

The mission was clear, link up with the advanced team and get them back to the extraction zone. The team already out in the field went dark after calling for pickup so Team RWBY were sent for pickup.

The silence should have been her first clue to how bad this was. A Grimm infested forest shouldn't have been this quiet with the amount of predicted Grimm in the area. This part of vale was known for its larger than average Ursa packs which meant that teams were sent regularly to keep the population down to a reasonable level.

The assignment called for Team RWBY to travel to the last known position of the advanced team and locate them. The forest was dark. Much darker than they would have thought, the trees blocking out much of the midday sun from hitting them, making the humidity almost unbearable.

Yang felt it before they saw it. A sense of dread and despair filled her as they entered a clearing. A broken blade lay on the ground surrounded by tattered clothing and empty casings. What worried Yang was the blood. So much blood. It layered the ground below them like a quagmire of red and crimson. generously splattered across the floor and trees. It made her sick. Empty. Thats how she felt when she saw it. A severed arm adorned with black material and simple white armor. She knew that armor. Her heart rate spiked as she searched the tree line for anything else.

The bodies of Nora and Ren were found just inside the tree line. It wasn't the first human corpse she had seen but it was one of the most unbearable images burned into her brain. They looked like they were sleeping, if you ignored the blood soaked clothing and open chest cavities. It made her physically sick to see two of her friends dead. She knew it was a possibility for all of them but seeing people she knew was a hard hit. The rest of them took it differently, Ruby vomited on the ground when she saw what Yang had found whereas Weiss and Blake had stood frozen.

The silence was broken by a roar in the distance. Running through the thick brush the only thoughts going through her head were if Nora and Ren were here then the roar in the distance must be Jaune and Pyrrah. They heard the battle before witnessing it. The pounding of paws hitting the ground and the sharp crack of shield impacts rang through the air as they entered another clearing.

Yang saw him first. Standing with shield in hand protecting his partners body. Its then she noticed the bloody stump where his arm should be bleeding profusely. Then she noticed the Grimm bodies surrounding him and the Ursa he was fighting. Using the last of his energy he struck the Ursa with the edge of his shield with enough force to knock the beast on its back. Climbing the body he brought his shield high above his head and smashed the edge against the its neck, the snapping of its spine snapped Yang out of her stupor to see Jaune bloody and pale crawl over to his partner and cradle her dying body in his arms.

She still remembers what Jaune said to Pyrrah as she lay their dying.

"Hey Pyrrah, keep those eyes open" His voice wavered as Pyrrah fought to keep her gaze on him.

"Common, we still haven't perfected that jam recipe we started" Yang heard the light giggle from the red head at his joke. She knew Pyrrah didn't have long.

"Jaune?"

"I'm here Pyrrah. I'm not going anywhere" His eyes pleading with her as she took her last breaths.

"You have to tell her Jaune. You'll need her" Yang swallowed hard as she heard the girls last words. She saw her breathing even out then stop all together.

"Pyrrah? No. Come on stay with me. You can't leave me now, what happened to doing it together. I need you here" Jaunes voice broke when he finished. His loud sobs echoed in the empty clearing as he held his partner close to him, her blood seeping into his clothes.

Yang remembers that day vividly. She knew what it did to him. He lost everything that day. His arm, his friends and the person closest to him, gone in the blink of an eye. From that day Yang didn't leave Jaunes side until he was able to live easily.

The first months were the hardest for him. Yang had to watch him cry himself to sleep, she had to watch him live a life without the use of both his arms, she watched him drown himself in his memories. She remembers the day when he broke down completely. He had returned to Beacon by request of Professor Ozpin, he had not told them why. The pair of them had arrived earlier than planned and ended up eating in the cafeteria with the first years.

She noticed he wasn't eating. She noticed a lot of things over the 2 years she spent with him. The way he had filled out since attending Beacon, his once smooth skin marred by small scars and his face once full of life and vibrancy now hard and angular. She noticed his happy go lucky attitude had toned down and it was harder to make him smile than before, but she can still get him laughing. She noticed the way he walked with a cane like Ozpin did, and the way he used it like he would a sword.

Their meal was going well for a while. She managed to get a few smiles out of him when she regaled stories of herself as a young girl constantly tormenting her younger sister, stories of when she nearly burnt her house down and even the story of when she threw up on a boy she was about to kiss. He laughed at that one. Yang loved his laugh. Loud and bellowing much unlike when she first met him.

The mood shifted when she noticed a young man tap Jaune on the shoulder. He stood anxiously waiting for his reaction. Yang saw Jaune plaster on the fake smile he wears in public and turn to face the young man next to him.

The question was innocent enough. He asked if Jaune was a hunter and if that was how he lost his arm. Yang could see his face tense and his jaw lock, to anyone else he would look calm and collected but Yang knew these signs, he was on the verge of a breakdown in the middle of the school. Jaune stood and as calmly as possible walked out the room, cane gripped firmly in his hand. The young man bristled with his apparent rejection and muttered under his breath 'asshole'.

Yang didn't know what came over her, she grabbed the kid by his neck and slammed him into the table. The kid trembled under her harsh glare, red eyed and more angry than before she yelled in the kids face, spewing out harsh retorts for his lack of tact and threatening bodily harm if she ever saw him again. And with that she ran from the room looking for her fragile friend.

Yang found him after hours of searching, on the dorms roof. He sat on the edge, legs swinging over with his cane resting beside him. He barely noticed her when she sat next to him. They sat there for what seemed hours before he spoke.

"This was the place where we could come to practice" She didn't need to know who he was talking about. She knew.

"We would come up here and train until we could barely lift our arms. We would come up here when one of us was having a bad day and let the other vent in whatever way they wanted". Yang remembers this pause. Jaune looked at her when he started speaking again and never stopped until he finished what he had to say.

"We would come up here just to talk about things. It was here I told her about things that crossed my mind and things I bottled up. It was here I told her about the girl I fell in love with. She knew it wasn't her, as soon as I mentioned her eyes she just grinned at me and let me continue my rant about how beautiful she was and how I wished she took me seriously, and then she just said good luck"

"And every time she would see me up here she would ask if I told her yet and I would say 'I was working on it'"

"And before we left Beacon she brought me up here and told me to do it before we left, otherwise I would regret it. And I nearly did, but when I was about to her team took her away and I lost my nerve"

Yang remembered the leaving ceremony Beacon held for their class. She had been waiting in the wings away from everybody to get ready. It was the only time she was nervous, after that day she would be a huntress and her life was about to change. Thats when Ruby and Blake stormed through and tore her from her thoughts and back to where they were waiting. On the way she turned and saw Jaune looking dejected before walking back to his team and Pyrrah patting his shoulder.

Then it clicked. His words stole the air from her lungs and made her limbs numb. Yang finally understood Pyrrahs final words 'You'll need her'. She was there for Jaune without his asking, she knew he would need somebody and who else but her, the light of everybody's life. She hadn't realized he was watching her until she looked at him. He gave her one of his honest smiles and continued speaking.

"And now you probably want nothing to do with me. I mean who wants to be with a man with one arm? It's not like you..." She stopped his rambling with her lips.

She still remembers his smile when she stopped kissing him. A broad smile that stretched from ear to ear. She hadn't seen that smile in years and it was only for her now. They would talk about it further later, they had a meeting to get to.

And that was the start of what they have now. The meeting was to introduce Jaune to a new teaching position. Ozpin told him it was because he had a sound strategic mind and the experience to teach others what he had learned, but they all knew he was giving Jaune a second chance at a life he couldn't be a part of. Jaune had only one condition for his position, if Yang could also have a class to teach.

Days turned to months and months to years and with them Yang and Jaune grew closer during their tenure at Beacon. It being a school, many students caught onto the relationship quickly and hounded their instructors for more details on their lives together. And each time they were sent away disheartened with no information. It wasn't until a student noticed a plain golden band on Yang's finger that the news spread. It took a while but they had made it, together.

And now Yang lays next to her husband shake in his dreams. No matter the joy he now feels, his subconscious torments him with a past that will never leave him. Jaune wakes with a start and locks eyes with her and calms immediately. She cups his face and rests her forehead against his silently grounding him to her so his mind doesn't run away with him. He opens his eyes, blue into lilac and his breathing calms as he continues to look into her eyes.

"I'm sorry Yang" Yang shakes her head, even when he doesn't need to apologies he does.

"Don't apologize Jaune, it's not your fault" She rests her head on his chest, hearing the erratic beating of his heart slowly calm and return to its normal rhythm.

The silence is broken by quiet cries and Jaune gently leaves the bed to sooth the baby resting in the other room. Children weren't something Yang had thought she wanted, sure they were adorable but living the life she thought she was going to live never let the possibility of kids happening. But now with the certainty that working in a school wasn't nearly as hazardous to her health as fighting Grimm, it became apparent that it was something she wanted. And who knew she wanted to make those children with the blond knight she laughed at years ago.

Yang is brought out of her thoughts by the soft voice of her husband talking to her daughter. She hears his voice getting louder as he gets closer to their room. As he enters she sees the bundle of pink blankets resting in the crook of his neck, his hand braced against her back. It took a while for Jaune to be comfortable holding his daughter with only one hand but now it seemed like second nature. As he reached the bed Yang sat up and gestured for her husband to pass their child to her.

Now with her baby resting against her chest and her husband at her side she can finally let herself drift off to sleep. It's Jaunes voice that breaks the peaceful silence.

"I love you June, I won't let anything take you away from us. Me and your mama are going to watch you until you have to beat up away with sticks"

Yang's smile was still there when she woke in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Something's in life are forever. There will always be 4 seasons, each bringing new weather and memories. The sun will always rise from the east and sets in the west. And Yang had learned from a early age that family was forever.

Since they were children Yang and Ruby were inseparable. Each looking out for one another like family should. As they grew up the dynamic hadn't changed, Yang was still protective of her sister and Ruby would always watch her back. When Yang had gotten her acceptance letter to Beacon she had invested as much of her free time in Ruby. Making sure that when she left her little sister had only great memories. She had been over exited when she learnt Ruby would be coming with her to Beacon that same year.

Yang never thought attending Beacon would give her an extended family. From the get go she thought she and her team would work around each over for the time they were there. She hadn't thought she would be getting a extended family. Her team became her family. Team JNPR became her extended family. Everybody brought something new to the dynamic and it made living in Beacon easier than Yang had thought.

After Beacon it shifted from being one whole unit back into two teams. It didn't take from the family aspect, they would come together when they could for birthdays and celebrations and they tried to keep in contact with each other. But as the years passed contact became sporadic at best and the family split. The last time they had all talked to each other was over long range comms from a fortress.

The family fell apart that day. Finding the bodies of their friends had smashed any hopes of keeping the family they once had together, and with Jaune being the only survivor they knew they were never going to get back what they lost.

Yang knew Jaune would never last on his own. He was too far gone in the beginning and would only regress further into himself. So Yang took it upon herself to keep the rest of her new family together. She split time between Jaune and her team, taking all her free time to check up on Jaune and the rest with Team RWBY.

One day on her visit to Jaune she mentioned that Ruby, Blake and Weiss had wanted to see him. His response was a smile and a enthusiastic 'sure' (back then she didn't realize he was plastering on a fake smile for her) and with that response she took him with her too see his friends. The trip had been tense, and Yang couldn't figure out why. Yang chalked it up to his nervousness flying (Jaune still hadn't gotten over his airsickness), now she knew why he was tense. She still had her team.

They had arrived in a cloud of dust when the dust plane landed. And with a skip in her step Yang brought Jaune with her too see his old friends. That day was a day of firsts, Yang should have known something was wrong when she entered her shared quarters with Jaune on tow. They were acting strange. Ruby was the first to welcome them, normally that would surprise her but Yang was distracted by Weiss. In all the time she had known Jaune, weiss had been making an effort to greet him but there she was standing in kitchen, her back facing them. Blake was no different than Ruby, welcoming Jaune with a hug and smile before taking his remaining arm and leading him to the table where dinner was nearly ready.

They sat at the table waiting for Weiss to join them. To say it was awkward was an understatement. Ruby would skate around Jaune, asking questions about anything that didn't have to do with his missing arm or anything hunter related and was reduced to asking about the weather more than once. Blake was the same, gently avoiding questions that could set him off. Yang knew they were trying not to set him off but by the look on his face he knew it to. Jaune would look away from them and answer with short one worded replies, making the dinner table more awkward than usual.

When Weiss had joined them the mood shifted again, not for the better. She sat rigid in her chair as they ate, not contributing to conversation at all and shifting her eyes to Jaune every 5 minutes. To say it was annoying Yang was an understatement, Weiss was staring at Jaune like he ready to snap.

"Is there a problem Weiss?" Yang's voice rung out in the silence that filled the room.

The sound of clinking cutlery was the only noise left in the room.

Weiss locked eyes with Yang and went back to Jaune again. Yang could see the cogs working in her head to make what came out of her mouth as venom less as possible. She put her cutlery down and stood, gesturing for Yang to follow.

They walked out of the dining room and down the hall as far from the table as possible before Weiss turned and started talking.

"Why is he here Yang? Why do you make it your job to be his babysitter? Why can't you see he isn't the same as before? He will break and when it happens don't come crying to us when he kills himself." Weiss's voice got marginally louder with each question

Yang was taken back her bluntness. Never had Weiss been this cold to Jaune before, didn't she realize they were all he had left? Yang hadn't realized Weiss was still talking until she felt a hand grip her wrist.

"He is a liability to himself and us. We should take him to a hospital and leave him there. It's what's best for him, he can get help there and be taken care of." Weiss finished

Yang couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was fuming, and so close to making Weiss shaped holes in the walls. Turning her heated gaze to Weiss's cold one she let loose.

"He is here because we are all he has left. He can't sleep, he barely eats if I'm not there to make him do it. He needs someone, anyone to watch out for him and if it isn't going to be anybody else then I will do it. We look after our own Weiss or did you forget that." Yang spat the last sentence before turning on her heels and walking down the hall. She met Ruby in the hall and muttered a 'keep your princess on a shorter leash' before walking back to the table.

She knew they heard the conversation. Blake was looking anywhere but the table and Jaune was lost in himself.

"Right, back to dinner." Yang's usual happy demeanor filling the awkward silence at the table.

Dinner was quiet after that. Nobody talked, nobody attempted to do anything but look at their plates and eat. The only sounds were the clanking of ceramics and the occasional cough.

Yang could see how tense Jaune was. He didn't sit still, bouncing with nerves. His hands constantly shaking and feet gently bouncing on the floor. The scraping of a chair cracked the awkward tension. Jaune stood up collected his jacket and cane and left the room with a mumbled 'sorry' before the door closed behind him.

Silence. The absence of sound was deafening in the room now. It hung to every crevice until Yang stood slowly and tucked her chair in and turned to her team, red eyed and angry.

"Listen carefully cause I'm only going to say this once. If I can't find him and get him back before he hurts himself than we are done. As in done, finished. I can't work in a team with a member who would turn her back on a friend. He lost everything that day, his team, his friends, his partner and his arm for god sake. If I had to make a choice, it would be him over you any day." and with that Yang walked out of the room and out of her teams lives for the foreseeable future.

It took hours for Yang to find Jaune. And it took days to get him sleeping for a couple hours at a time before his nightmares woke him. And each time she was there, keeping him tethered and calm before gently getting him sleeping again.

The first time Team RWBY contacted them was a couple of months after her blowout at dinner. It was Ruby who called first, asking when she was coming back. Then it was Blake asking the same question a couple weeks later. Both got the same answer. She wasn't coming back, Jaune needed her more. Weiss had attempted to talk to her once, as soon as Yang realized the voice she hung up. Yang didn't want to talk to her.

The calls became less and less frequent over the next months until they stopped by Yang's request. It wasn't they should stop calling. They should stop expecting her to come back, she had a new life now.

It wasn't until Yang gave birth to June that she saw her sister and old teammates again. It was during her leave from Beacon that she got a knock on her door on campus. Wondering who would be knocking during class hours she opened the door with her baby rested on her chest.

Standing at her door, still wearing her red cloak was Ruby. Tears pricked both sisters eyes as they saw each other. She had grown up. No longer the gangly 19 year old after Beacon, now 30 years old and standing the same height as her sister. Yang didn't give her sister time to prepare, she grabbed the back of her neck and crushed her in a hug. Both crying silent tears as they held each other.

It wasn't until she heard the gentle chuckle behind Ruby did she let go and look at who was laughing. Her smile took over her face as she saw who was behind her sister. Blake stood a few steps behind Ruby smiling gently with tears streaming down her face before joining the hug. Yang didn't know how long they stood there before she heard the unmistakable click of a cane. His gentle laugh made her smile as she saw her husband sitting in the bench in the front garden.

"You'll never guess who I found in my office." Jaunes jovial laughter made her break the embrace and turn to Jaune.

"Looks to me a pair of trouble makers Headmaster." Yang's reply earned a laugh before he stood up and kissed June on the head.

"Definitely Mrs Arc, but they look to old for detention." Yang's smile could have broken her face in two. Her sisters laugh made her turn and wonder what she was laughing at.

Ruby noticing the look replied "You remind me of Ozpin and Goodwitch. Down to the cane and dress sense."

This is what Yang longed for. A family. With her husband and child her life seemed content. Now with her sister and old partner here at her door she reaffirmed her belief that family was forever, no matter where they resided.


End file.
